16 March 2008

24 hours of difference due to rest

So how is everyone doing? In just a little under 24 hours, I'm feeling much better. I suppose rest + sleep really does do the trick :).

I've found that recently I've been falling into the same problem I had a few years ago where I just want to keep going! I just don't want to stop because I feel when I stop to "rest", it's like I could be moving forward. I suppose it's a psychological thing but most people who know me know that I'm not the type of person to give up easily which makes me feel like "taking a break" is like surrendering. I always try to remind myself about the importance of rest when it comes to working out. I guess I'm more convinced in that field because I can see the direct relation to results. When I rest for 2 days instead of 1 after a heavy work out, I'm more powerful in the next session. I can tell this because I do the same exercises, so I have the same basis of comparison. I don't seem to have the same mentality when it comes to drumming and I finally realized why... I'm not comparing the same thing and therefore I feel like I'm not improving as much as I want to be! Sometimes I'll admit, if I don't practice for say a week, when I first come back, my 1st practice session usually sucks! Like yesterday, I was not only de-motivated, but I failed to achieve the speeds I did before. For example, remember how I said I could clock up to 165BPM on straight double pedaling? Well now I'm struggling with 160. I suppose it's partly because I've kind of changed my technique and so it's like I need to re-learn everything which really brings me back to my original point, I need to compare apples with apples! Not oranges!

So many times in life we get frustrated because things don't seem to be going "our way" when in fact it is we who are not looking at the matter properly in the first place! I've been working on some hand exercises on my practice pad and luckily, the whole page is really a variation on the same basic exercise so I can really see my speeds improve! As much as it's only an improvement of approx 10 bpm, it's 10 whole bpm!! At 16th notes, that's 40 more hits per minute!

So yes, rest, the all-important but often neglected rest. I wanted to just share with everyone that sometimes when you're frustrated with what you're working at, the best solution may just be to stop working on it. You know how they say when you're stuck with an idea, sleep on it. It allows your sub-conscious to work on it and when you wake up, you may have the solution! I believe this although I still often find myself falling back in the pits of thinking "go go go go go go!". Like even now, I just finished practicing drums for approximately 40 minutes and I know my concentration level has fallen due to fatigue but as I type this, I really want to work on those few more exercises still on the page of the book I'm using. In fact, I remember talking to another drummer when he asked me what motivates me to work on my exercises and oddly enough it's that feeling of "I can almost finish this page, and go to the next!" that comes first rather than "because it will help me improve." I guess in the end, the motivation behind it all doesn't matter even if it's because I want to get my money's worth, the point is, I still end up practicing.

Another thing I want to point out is directly opposite to rest, and that is to really work it out. Like when I play drums now, I don't stop at a comfortable speed, I try to push myself pass my comfort zone to a point I'm almost struggling or am even struggling to get through the exercise at that speed. My goal isn't to over-do it but instead, I feel that much like working out, it's not the comfortable zone that will allow you to improve, it's the last bit, where you're struggling and your body is crying and it's all down to your willpower to get through this final bit that will really let you grow. So the same should go with everything else. Remember yesterday how I said I was honestly kind of burnt out with everything, I really was, but looking back, I know I pushed it to the max. last week, I really put in my heart and soul in everything and got as much out of it as I could. I know I had a rewarding week when I look back at my schedule and go "wow, this only happened last week?" when it all feels like a few weeks ago because so much has happened since.

So I've covered rest and I've covered getting-things-done, which by the way, I'm still struggling to keep up with (GTD) because like many have said, GTD isn't hard to start, it's hard to maintain simply because it really boils down to self-discipline at the end of the day! No matter how many devices I use or whatever software is involved, I need to see the list and just get things done! So many things are actually a matter of over-coming the initial inertia of getting things done when you see a long list and you're like "Ahhhh where do I start", but in fact, all you really need to do is just start!! Like a lot of it is really myself saying "ahh that's simple, I'll just do it later when I'm quite tired".. like I'll give you an example, today, my list says I need to take a vitamin tablet. Now normally, I never take it on an empty stomach, so if I see this before lunch, I set it to snooze for an hour and then eat, then come back and it'll remind me. Now I saw it, but I also saw "Day 10 entry" and I figured, oh let me type the entry first because I have to walk outside to get some water since I'm out of the good liquid in my room when I could have done this, ticked it off my list and then done my blog entry. In fact, let me go take my vitamins right now. No more procrastination!

There we go, one thing done. Another thing I need to do is WD-40 my drum pedals. I shall do that now.

And we're back. I WD-40'd it, tightened everything and now we're here again. So what's next? Well before I start work, I'm going to hit the gym because I know I'll feel refreshed after that. I've got a new workout routine I created so going to give that a test-drive. So I hope everyone takes today as the beginning of a new way of thinking where you work hard and play hard. Rest fully and when you're done, get back into 110% mode!! Rock on! :)

Update: I was supposed to meet my friend Jonathan tonight but it didn't work out so here I am back at home ready to plunge deep into all the stuff I need to get done by tonight (yay for freelance or something). Well hope you all enjoy the rest of your Sunday evening, I'll be working it off so while you're all slogging away on Monday, I'll be a bit more relaxed :).